Twelve Keys – Introduction

The original source material is generally attributed to Basil Valentine. Current revision is made from the translation included in ‘The Hermetic Museum’ originally translated by Elias Ashmole and edited by A.E. Waite.

Introduction: The Tract of
Basilius Valentinus, the Benedictine
Concerning the Great Stone of the Ancient Sages.

In the preface, gentle Reader, and zealous Student of this Art, I promised to communicate to you a knowledge of our Corner Stone, or Rock, of the process by which it is prepared, and of the substance from which it was already derived by those ancient Sages, to whom the secret of our Art was first revealed by God for the health and happiness of earthly life.

Let me assure you that I fully intend to fulfil my promise, and to be as plain with you as the rules of our Art permit, not misleading you by sophistical deceptions, but opening up to you the spring of all blessings even unto the fountain head. I propose to set forth what I have to say in a few simple, straightforward words, for I am no adept in the art of multiplying words; nor do I think that exuberance of language tends to clearness; on the contrary, I am convinced that it is many words that darken council. Let me tell you, then, that although many are engaged in the search after this Stone, it is nevertheless found but by very few. For God never intended that it should become generally known. Its rather to be regarded as a gift which He reserves for those favoured few, who love the truth, and hate falsehood, who study our Art earnestly by day and by night, and whose hearts are set upon God with an unfeigned affection.

Hence, if you would prepare our great and ancient Stone, I testify unto you in all truth that you must give diligent heed to my teaching, and before all things implore the gracious blessing of the Creator of all things. You must also truly repent you of all your sins, confessing the same, and firmly resolve to lead a good and holy life. It is also necessary that you should determine to shew your gratitude to God for His unspeakable Gift, by succouring the poor and the distressed, and by opening your hand and your heart to the needy. Then God will bless your labour, and reward your search with success, and yourself with a seat in Heaven as the fruit of your faith.

Do not despise the truthful writings of those who possessed the Stone before us. For, after the enlightening grace of God, it is from them that I received my knowledge. Let your study of them be increased and repeated often, lest you lose the thread of insight, and the lamp of understanding be extinguished.

Give yourself wholly to study, and be not flighty or doubleminded. Let your mind be like a firm Rock, in which all the various sayings of the Sages are reduced to the unity of their common meaning. For a man whos easily influenced in different directions is not likely to find the right path.

As our most ancient Stone is not derived from combustible things, you should cease to seek it in substances which cannot stand the test of fire. For this reason it is absurd to suppose that we can make any use of vegetable substances, though the Stone, too, is endowed with a principle of growth.

If our Stone were a vegetable substance, it would, like other vegetables, be consumed by fire, leaving only a certain salt. Ancient writers have, indeed, described our Stone as the vegetable Stone. But that name was suggested to them by the fact that it grows and increases in size, like a plant.

Know also that animals only multiply after their kind, and within their own species. Hence our Stone can only be prepared out of its own seed, from which it was taken in the beginning; and hence also you will perceive that the soul of an animal must not be the subject of this investigation. Animals are a class by themselves; nor can anything ever be obtained from them that is not animal in its nature. But our Stone, as it has been bequeathed to me by the Ancients, is derived from two things, and one thing, in which is concealed a third thing. This is the purest truth, and a most faithful saying. For male and female have from of old been regarded as one body, not from any external or visible consideration, but on account of the ardour of that mutual love which naturally draws them together into one; and as the male and female seed jointly represent the principle of propagation, so also the sperm of the matter out of which our Stone is made can be sown and increased. There are in our substance two supplementary kinds of seed, from which our Stone may be prepared and multiplied.

If you are a true lover of our Art, you will carefully weigh and ponder these words, lest, with other sophisticators, you fall into the dangerous pit prepared by the common enemy of man. But whence are you to obtain this seed? This question you may most easily answer by asking yourself another question. What do you want to develop from this seed, and what use do you wish to make of it? There can be no doubt, then that it must be the root, or first substance, of metals, from which all metals derive their origin. It is, therefore, necessary that we should now proceed to speak of the generation of the metals.

In the beginning, when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and as yet all was involved in darkness, Almighty and Eternal God, Whose beginning and wisdom are from everlasting, by His inscrutable counsel created heaven and earth, and all that in them is, both visible and invisible, out of nothing. How the act of creation was accomplished we will not attempt to explain. This is a matter which is set forth to us in Holy Scripture, and must be apprehended by faith.

To each creature God gave its own seed, wherewith to propagate its kind, that in this way there might always be an increase of men and animals, plants and metals. Man was not to be able to produce new seed: he was only permitted to educe new forms of life out of that which already existed. The creating of seed God reserved to Himself, for if man could create seed he would be equal to the Creator.

Know that our seed is produced in the following way. A celestial influence descends from above, by the decree and ordinance of God, and mingles with the astral properties. When this union has taken place, the two bring forth a third namely, an earth-like substance, which is the principle of our seed, of its first source, so that it can shew an ancestry, and from which three the elements, such as water, air, and earth, take their origin. These elements work underground in the form of fire, and there produce what Hermes, and all who have preceded me, call the three first principles, viz., the internal soul, the impalpable spirit, and visible bodies, beyond which we can find no earlier beginning of our Magistery.

In the course of time these three unite, and are changed through the action of fire into a palpable substance, viz., quicksilver, sulphur, and salt. If these three substances be mixed, they are hardened and coagulated into a perfect body, which represents the seed chosen and appointed by the Creator. This is a most important and certain truth. If the metallic soul, the metallic spirit, and the metallic form of body be present, there will also be metallic quicksilver, metallic sulphur, and metallic salt, which together make up the perfect metallic body.

If you cannot perceive what you ought to understand herein, you should not devote yourself to the study of philosophy.

Moreover, I tell you in few words, that you cannot obtain a metallic body except by perfectly joining these three principles into one. Know, also, that all animals are, like man, composed of flesh and blood, and also possess a vitalizing spirit, but are destitute of the rational soul which the Creator gave to man alone. Therefore, when animals die, they perish for ever. But when man yields up his mortal life into the hands of his Creator, his soul does not die. It returns, and is united to the glorified body, in which, after the Resurrection, soul and spirit dwell together once more in eternal glory, never to be separated again throughout all eternity.

Hence the rational soul of man makes him an abiding creature, and, though his body may seem to die, yet we know that he will live for ever. For to him death is only a process of purification, by means of which he is freed from his sins, and translated to another and better place. But there is no resurrection for the brute beasts, because they have no rational soul, for which alone our Lord and Saviour shed His blood.

For though a body may be vitalized by a spirit, yet it need not, therefore, be fixed, unless, indeed, it possess a rational soul, that strong bond between body and spirit, which represents their union, and resists all efforts to separate them. Where there is no soul, there is no hope of redemption. Nothing can be perfect or lasting without a soul. This is a profound and most important truth, which I feel in conscience bound to make known to my readers. Now, the spirits of metals have this property of fixedness in a greater or less degree; they are more or less volatile in proportion to the mutual fitness of their bodies and souls. A metal that has the three conditions of fixedness is not affected by fire or overcome by any other outward agent. But there is only one metal that fulfils these conditions, namely, gold. Silver also contains fixed mercury, and is not so quickly volatilised as the imperfect metals, but stands the trial of fire, and yields no food to voracious Saturn.

Amatory Venus is clothed with abundant colour, and her whole body is one pure tincture, not unlike the red colour which is found in the most precious of metals. But though her spirit is of good quality, her body is leprous and affords no permanent substratum to the fixed tincture. Hence the soul has to share the fate of the imperfect body, and when the body dies,the soul has to leave it, for its dwelling has been destroyed by fire, and it is without a house wherein to abide.

Fixed salt has imparted to warlike Mars a hard, firm, and durable body, which is evidence of the generosity of his soul; nor can fire be said to have much power over it. And if its strength be united to the beauty of Venus, I do not say but that a precious and harmonious result may be obtained. For the phlegmatic or humid quality of the Moon may be heated with the ardent blood of Venus, and the blackness of Venus removed with the strong salt of Mars.

You need not look for our metallic seed among the elements. It need not be sought so far back. If you can only rectify the Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt (understand, those of the Sages) until the metallic spirit and body are inseparably joined together by means of the metallic soul, you thereby firmly rivet the chain of love, and prepare the palace for the coronation.

These things represent a liquid key, comparable to the celestial influence, and a dry water joined to the terrestrial substance: all which are one thing, derived from three, and two, and one. If you understand this, you have already attained our Magistery. Then you must join the husband and wife together that each may feed upon the other’s flesh and blood, and that so they may propagate their species a thousandfold.

Though I would fain reveal this matter to you more plainly and openly, I am prohibited from doing so by the law of God, and by the fear of His wrath, and of eternal punishment should the gift of the Most High be abused.

If, however, you do not understand the theoretical part of my work, perhaps the practical part will serve to enlighten you more fully. I will therefore proceed to shew how, by the help of God, I was enabled to prepare the Stone of the Ancients, and, for your further instruction, will add twelve keys, in which I give a figurative account of our Art.

Take a quantity of the best and finest gold, and separate it into its component parts by those media which Nature vouchsafes to those who are lovers of Art, as an anatomist dissects the human body. Thus change your gold back into what it was before it became gold; and thou shalt find the seed, the beginning, the middle, and the end-that from which our gold and its female principle are derived, viz., the pure and subtle spirit, the spotless soul, and the astral salt and balsam. When these three are united, we may call them the mercurial liquid: a water which was examined by Mercury, found by him to be pure and spotless, and therefore espoused by him as his wife. Of the two was born an incombustible oil; for Mercury became so proud that he hardly knew himself. He put forth eagle feathers, and devoured the slippery tail of the Dragon, and challenged Mars to battle.

Then Mars summoned his horsemen, and bade them enclose Mercury in prison under the ward of Vulcan, until he should be liberated by one of the female sex. When this became known, the other Planets assembled and held a deliberation on the question, what would be the best and wisest course to adopt. When they were met together, Saturn first came forward, and delivered himself as follows:

I, Saturn, the greatest of the planets in the firmament, declare here before you all, that I am the meanest and most unprofitable of all that are here present, that my body is weak, corruptible, and of a swarthy hue, but that, nevertheless, it is I that try you all. For having nothing that is fixed about me, I carry away with me all that is of a kindred nature. My wretchedness is entirely caused by that fickle and inconstant Mercury, by his careless and neglectful conduct. Therefore, I pray you, let us be avenged on him, shut him up in prison, and keep him there till he dies and is decomposed, nay, until not a drop of his blood is to be seen.

Then yellow Jupiter stepped forward, bent his knees, inclined his sceptre, and with great authority bade them carry out the demand of Saturn. He added that he would punish everyone who did not aid the execution of this sentence.

Then Mars presented himself, with sword drawn — a sword that shone with many colours, and gave out a beautiful and unwonted splendour. This sword he gave to the warder Vulcan, and bade him slay Mercury, and burn him, together with his bones, to ashes. This Vulcan consented to do.

While he was executing his office, there appeared a beautiful lady in a long, silver robe, intertissued with many waters, who was immediately recognised as the Moon, the wife of the Sun. She fell on her knees, and with outspread hands, and flowing tears, besought them to liberate her husband — the Sun — from the prison in which, through the crafty wiles of Mercury, he was being detained by the Planets. But Vulcan refused to listen to her request; nor was he softened by the moving prayers of Lady Venus, who appeared in a crimson robe, intertissued with threads of green, and charmed all by the beauty of her countenance and the fragrance of the flowers which she bore in her hand. She interceded with Vulcan, the Judge, in the Chaldee tongue, and reminded him that a woman was to effect the deliverance of the prisoner. But even to her pleading he turned a deaf ear.

While they were still speaking the heaven was opened, and there came forth a mighty animal, with many thousands of young ones, which drove the warder before it, and opening its mouth wide, swallowed Venus, its fair helper, at the same time exclaiming with a loud voice: “I am born of woman, woman has propagated my seed, and therewith filled the earth. Her soul is devoted to mine, and therefore I must be nourished with her blood.” When the animal had said these words with a loud voice, it hastened into a certain chamber, and shut the door behind it; whither its voracious brood followed, drinking of the aforesaid incombustible oil, which they digested with the greatest ease, and thereby became even more numerous than they had been before. This they continued to do until they filled the whole world.

Then the learned men of that country were gathered together, and strove to discover the true interpretation of all they had seen. But they were unable to agree until there came forward a man of venerable age, with snowy locks and silvery beard, and arrayed in a flowing purple robe. On his head he wore a crown set with brilliant carbuncles. His loins were girded with the girdle of life. His feet were bare, and his words penetrated to the depth of the human soul. He mounted the tribune, and bade the assembly listen to him in silence, since he was sent from above to explain to them the significance of what they had seen.

When perfect silence prevailed, he delivered himself as follows:

Awake, O man, and behold the light, lest the darkness deceive thee! The Gods revealed to me this matter in a profound sleep. Happy is the man who knows the great works of the Divine power. Blessed is he whose eyes are opened to behold light where before they saw darkness.

Two Stars are given by the Gods to man to lead him to great wisdom. Gaze steadily upon them, follow their lights, and you will find in them the secret of knowledge.

The bird Phoenix, from the south, plucks out the heart of the mighty beast from the east. Give the animal from the east wings, that it may be on an equality with the bird from the south. For the animal from the east must be deprived of its lion’s skin, and lose its wings. Then it must plunge in the salt water of the vast ocean, and emerge thence in renovated beauty. Plunge thy volatile spirits in a deep spring whose waters never fail, that they may become like their mother, who is hidden therein, and born of three.

Hungary is my native land, the sky and the stars are my habitation, the earth is my spouse. Though I must die and be buried, yet Vulcan causes me to be born anew. Therefore, Hungary is my native land, and my mother encloses the whole world.

When all that were present had received these his sayings, he thus continued:

Cause that which is above to be below; that which is visible, to be invisible; and that which is palpable, to become impalpable. Again, let that which is below become that which is above; let the invisible become visible, and the impalpable, palpable. Here you see the perfection of our Art, without any defect, or diminution. But that in which death and life, destruction and resurrection dwell, is a round sphere, with which the goddess of fortune drives her chariot, and imparts the gift of wisdom to men of God. Its proper name here upon earth, and for the human understanding, is ‘All-in-All.’

Let him who would know what this ‘All-in-All’ is, give the earth great wings, and make it fly upward through the air to the heavenly regions. Then singe its wings with fierce heat, and make it fall into the Red Sea, and there be drowned. Then dry up the water with fire and air till the earth reappears, and you will have ‘All-in-All.’

If you cannot find it in this way, look around upon the things that are in the world. Then you will find the ‘ All-in-All,’ which is the attracting force of all metals and minerals derived from salt and sulphur, and twice born of Mercury. More I may not say about ‘ All-in-All,’ since all is comprehended in all.

My friends, blessed are ye if, by listening to the words of the wise, ye can find this great Stone, which has power to cure leprous and imperfect metallic bodies and to regenerate them; to preserve men in health, and procure for them a long life — as it has hitherto kept the vital fire burning within me so long that I am weary of life, and yearn to die.

For His wisdom and mercy, and for the gracious Gift which He has bestowed upon me so long ago, I am bound to render God thanks, now and evermore. Amen.

When the old man had thus spoken, he vanished from their sight.

But all who had heard him went each man to his house, and meditated on his words by day and by night.

Here follow the Twelve Keysof Basilius Valentinus, the Benedictine,with which we may open the doorsof the knowledge of the Most Ancient Stoneand unseal the Most Secret Fountain of Health.

Share this:

Like this:

“A celestial influence descends from above, by the decree and ordinance of God, and mingles with the astral properties. When this union has taken place, the two bring forth a third namely, an earth-like substance, which is the principle of our seed, of its first source, so that it can shew an ancestry, and from which three the elements, such as water, air, and earth, take their origin.”

If it is appropriate, could you please say something about the “earth-like substance” and why it is important that it show an ancestry? And why is the fourth element, fire, not mentioned in the list?

This is actually a very complex and involved matter. Let us look at these questions in reverse order and see if we can unravel the thread…

As you say: Fire is implied, but not explicitly mentioned in the list. In this context, Fire is—on the one hand—the transformative agent par excellence that causes “that which is above to be below; that which is visible, to be invisible; and that which is palpable, to become impalpable“, and—on the other hand—Fire is the seed (also called the ‘fire of mercury’ in other contexts) and its fruit—which relates to your question about ancestry in the sense that Fire can be the the source of light, and concentrated light can serve as the proximate cause of fire. Fire is our source and solution, our Alpha and Omega.

The earth-like substance mentioned here is a reference to the prima materia which results from the harmonious union of the Fire and Water (or Sulphur and Mercury) – Spirit and Soul. It is also known as the ‘Flower of White Salt’, the result and recipient of the celestial influence (Fire, or Astral Gold), descending as water (rain or Dew).

In the creation, the movement is thus stated:

“All things are from the Creator, through the generosity thereof; and the first creation therefore is the primordial matter, then the intellect, then the soul…”

In alchemy, because we are working with the ‘fallen’ nature, we reverse that order of manifestation in order to ‘show an ancestry’ and claim our inheritance. So the Soul, must be made an acceptable vessel for the Spirit, and when the union of Spirit and Soul is well balanced, we arrive at the prima-materia which accepts the imprint of the original form of man freed of any and all adventitious defilements. This is a reference to the Three Principles, here disingenuously called ‘elements’.

The water, air and earth mentioned as “taking their origin” from the three ‘elements’ would then refer to the spiritus, the sensitive soul, and the physical form (or “fourth imprint” which “operate(s) locally—see the Meditations of the Greek Master, #13. These three ‘elements’ are a lower-order reflection of the Three Principles, which is, no doubt, the reason the author chose to call both sets ‘elements’.

Just a note to clarify: I do not suppose that I made it quite clear enough, that the first operation (with ‘God’ as the Artist) is referred to in the following quote:

“All things are from the Creator, through the generosity thereof; and the first creation therefore is the primordial matter, then the intellect, then the soul…”

This has reference to the creation of the impalpable Universal or Cosmic Principles.

From these three principles ‘God’ also engenders their reflections in the palpable Cosmic body, spirit and soul. Here we have the visible Cosmos.

From the aforementioned impalpable Universal principles ‘God’ also engenders their reflections in the impalpable individual Form, Intellect and Rational Soul of each human being.

From the individual impalpable principles, nature proceeds to generate their physical reflections in the palpable body, spiritus and sensitive soul of the individual human being (the gross body/mind).

These, the individual artist—copying the operation exhibited by ‘God’ in the Creation (but reversing the operative order)—works with, arranging them hierarchically and purifying them such that he/she arrives at their impalpable originals.

And so on back through the creative process …

It is perfectly clear when left in symbolic form, but when one tries to explicate it, one really has to focus on one phase or another depending upon what the context requires.

xiaoyaoxingzhe

October 21, 2011 at 1:44 am

Yes, the general gist of having to work in reverse was clear, but your clarification pointed up some of the subtleties that I might have otherwise missed.
Another aspect of the “ancestry” occured to me, which was that of “human” versus “animal” (in almost a Herbertian sense), with the human being specifically related to the “first source.” So it is the spark of the Divine which makes us human, and makes us say “Our Father.”

‘As our most ancient Stone is not derived from combustible things, you should cease to seek it in substances which cannot stand the test of fire. For this reason it is absurd to suppose that we can make any use of vegetable substances, though the Stone, too, is endowed with a principle of growth.’

I recall reading (Jean Dubuis – Vegetable Alchemy) that the dry path involved nothing other than calcining vegetable matter/substances, which in light of what you have recently commented (My Will vs Thy Will) appears to be quite a productive area of inquiry.

Does, ‘cannot stand the test of fire’ imply simply that the Stone is not to be found through outward directed desire, or rather that it is to be found in that which remains after the combustion of adventitious defilement, the remnants of the consumed ‘Ego/Super ego’?

This is a really interesting answer, because it contains the opportunity to demonstrate one of the tendencies holding you back. We call it “clouding the channel” and it is a protection mechanism of the “commanding self” (nafs-i-ammarah) — or what Almaas might call “ego activity”. Have a look at those topics under those authors and it may be useful.

What I mean is that you (or part of you) clearly knows the answer, because you state it: ‘cannot stand the test of fire’ implies simply that the Stone is to be found in that which remains after the combustion of adventitious defilement, the remnants of the consumed ‘Ego/Super ego’.

And yet for no apparent reason you bring in stuff from out in left field: what have we to do with Jean Dubuis and “vegetable alchemy”? Furthermore, I have pointed this out before back in June 2012 when you brought up the same author talking about different alchemical recipes. At that point I said, and to my mind it bears repeating:

As to “finding unity in the thousands of alchemical recipes,” the original mandate of our school is to distil the essential from the superfluous. It is very easy to get caught up in the mystery and excitement of the esoteric, but amongst those who are not peddling such wares (which would include all the authors quoted on this site or to be found in the Al-Kemi Store) one is constantly directed toward the fundamental, and reminded that the process is natural and unforced, like Nature itself.

Now, chastisements need skill on both sides. On the one hand, a chastisement is not to be given to one who has no hope of making the required change; it is a waste of effort. At the same time, it should not be too severe for the person in question, nor should it be too mild.

On the receiving side, even more skill is required. If one receiving the chastisement grovels in a fit of unworthiness, the impact can be wasted. Similarly, the nafs-i-ammarah can surge and the rebuke can be rejected, simply strengthening the ego-self.

Ideally what should happen is the energy of the shock should be employed to STOP and review the rebuked behavior. What were the subtle motivations leading up to the behavior? If they can be identified, a pattern, an unconscious pattern of habitual action can be laid bare. These unproductive patterns consume energy and occur over and over, and indeed make up the “recrements,” the “adventitious defilements” that obscure and cloud the channel.

The path of the dervish is in qualitative exactitude.

brkkuroi

March 24, 2015 at 10:03 am

I don’t know if this is an example of synchronicity, but it may be helpful. I came to the page today to refer to earlier responses which you made, Xiaoyao, concerning sentimentality. Out of a natural curiosity, I read the exchange between you and Otove. I was interested in the concept of “clouding the channel”, and I wanted to ask a question about it, but I thought, “well, I should just focus on my original intention.” I went to the passage concerning sentimentality, and I found this:

“The sensitive soul is also called the vital soul or spiritus (note the lower case) and in its un-refined state is rather aimless and chaotic. It has been described as a cloud, amorphous, without any coherence of its own, attracted and repelled by the things around us. It takes up for a time the shape of whatever physical part is attracting our interest. When we eat something delicious, for example, it becomes a temporary ‘soul’ in the shape of a mouth. This quality is admirably described by the properties of mercury:

“For, in the beginning, as we know, mercury is quite unstable, moving to and fro without aim or purpose. So this ‘mercury’ is not the ‘Mercury of the Sages’ but the spiritus – the lower, vital or sensitive Soul; the heart attached to the creation.”

So, as well as reviewing the difference between feeling which is a part of the “eye of the soul”(Plato) and superficial sentimentality I also found the answer to my other question! I was interested in the concept of “clouding the channel” because you refer to it as a protective device i.e it protects the Commanding Self. It also it would seem to me would( if “fog” has the same meaning in the following passage) act to protect individuals from insights which may not be approrpriate(or even dangerous) at the time as with a passage from Learning How to Learn that refers to “fog” as being created by confusion which may actually protect someone from a tiger which is hiding in the fog. There have been many, many times that I have “clouded the channel” but now, it would seem to me, that I have a language and an orientation for understanding how that is happening so…thank you for that!

brkkuroi

March 24, 2015 at 2:48 pm

https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0900860596
Idries Shah – 1978 – ‎Philosophy
Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way Idries Shah … You may not like a fog, but if it is shielding you from a man-eating tiger, it is better to have it. In too many …

Well, after long reflection, the following quote (again from Almaas ) helped to elucidate the root cause of one of the most wasteful kinds of posture; (Well for me at least) ‘Basic Distrust’ –

“Trusting the Dynamism of the Inquiry-
In time, you develop basic trust and you learn to trust the dynamism of the inquiry. This will happen as the result of several things: first, clearly recognizing the optimizing force in the dynamism of your own unfolding; second, truly seeing that optimization is the nature of the dynamism; and third, having faith that the optimizing is occurring even when you can’t feel it in the moment. Then you are trusting the guidance and the unfoldment. Basic trust – the knowing that you just need to relax and things will work out fine – is an automatic result of this developing knowledge of reality. ”
Spacecruiser Inquiry, p. 122

Now the hard part – what to ‘do’ about dealing with such a deeply entrenched and corrosive posture, I guess Faith is worth encouraging? 🙂

The recognition of the need for Basic Trust, and one’s relative lack of the same, is a very important insight; one could say crucial. Consider the process by which you were led to that realisation and you have a chance to see and acknowledge that you are being assisted from ‘within’.

At the stage when I had been led to investigate Basic Trust, someone said to me:

I think the trick here is to begin to realize that for most of the time we are trying to manipulate that which is unfolding, in other words we are unwilling to just BE i.e. go with the flow.
It is often said that everything is in its place, everything is where it should be — as you would expect if you sat back and thought about it. But it is extremely difficult for us to get to the point where we ‘see’ not only that this is true, but we also ‘see’ how we refuse to accept it.
How do we refuse, you may ask? Well, we are all in a constant state of ‘tension’, not only with ourselves, but also with everything that surrounds us. We seem to be unwilling to accept that which is unfolding, we are unwilling to Trust in the Design, and because we cannot Trust we cannot let go: in other words — *we* think we know what *we* should be doing next.

In the lineage represented by this site, when one begins to understand the posture of Basic Trust, a focus for meditation is provided, as follows:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Recent Posts

Excerpt

"But that the secret might not be lost, but rather continued and preserved to posterity they expounded it most faithfully, both in their writings and in oral teaching to their faithful disciples, for the benefit of posterity; nevertheless, they so clothed and concealed the truth in allegorical language that even now only very few are able to understand their instruction and turn it to practical account. For this practice they had a very good reason; they want to force those who seek this wisdom to feel their dependence upon God (in whose hand are all things), to obtain it through instant prayer, and when it has been revealed to them, to give all the glory to Him. Moreover they did not wish pearls to be cast before swine." - The Sophic Hydrolith